Do We Really Need To Sing The National Anthem In A Movie Hall To Prove Our Patriotism?

So, it has really happened. The Supreme Court has ordered that the national anthem must be played before movie screenings in theatres across India. "When the national anthem is played, it is imperative for everyone to show honour and respect. It would instill a sense of committed patriotism and nationalism," said the judges. The court also banned the commercialisation and dramatisation of the national anthem, prohibiting printing of the national anthem, or any part of it, on any undesirable object.

Theatres in Maharashtra, Goa and many other states already have this as a mandate. Sometime back, a wheelchair-bound man was assaulted by ‘patriots’ for not being able to stand up for the national anthem in a movie theatre in Panaji, Goa.

That’s the fiery brand of patriotism we are subscribing to today – jingoist, intolerable and absolute. The purpose of a national anthem is to bring about a sense of pride and oneness among the citizens, to extol the virtues of the nation. How and when did it become reason to assault a fellow citizen? It means there’s something terribly wrong in our interpretation of it.

And is singing the national anthem in a movie theatre sign of your patriotism? How does the national anthem fit in a movie theatre anyway? So, we go to watch Sunny Leone’s next movie and we are all kicked about it, and before it gets all heated up, you find yourself singing the national anthem. I don’t sing the gayatri mantra before, say, having sex. But it doesn’t make me any less Hindu.

We are patriotic all right; we have all the respect in the world for our jawans who sacrifice their lives protecting the borders, our blood boils when we see innocent RTI activists being murdered, when we see women being raped, when we read about corrupt politicians wringing the system dry.

I can’t help but think of King Lear’s youngest daughter Cordelia from Shakespeare’s celebrated play ‘King Lear’. Among his 3 daughters, Cordelia loved him the most, but she was honest in her love and preferred her actions to speak for her rather than her words. She was beyond the outward show of affections. So, when her father asked each of the 3 daughters how much they loved her, the other 2 went overboard with their declarations of love for him, but Cordelia minced no words and told him how she loved him as any daughter loves her father and after marriage, her love would be divided between her father and her husband. The naïve king chose to banish Cordelia.

The thing to learn here is that intention is not a product of outward show. You don’t need to wear your patriotism on your sleeve to prove its authenticity. It should be a choice, and that’s the mark of a democracy. The national anthem hails Indian diversity and that’s one of our biggest strengths. Actions speak louder than words and it’s not always necessary to prove your love by saying it aloud. A soldier’s life is by far the biggest example.

To all those insisting on making it mandatory to play the national anthem in a movie hall, why do you not insist on people not littering the roads, why do you not file RTIs when there’s a scam in the system. Why not dig deeper into what patriotism means rather than focusing on the frills? Will singing the national anthem make us good citizens? If you sing the national anthem and then go out and pee on the road, eve tease, abuse, and direspect the system, sorry you are not a patriot.

Why not sing it before every meal, before every Parliament session, before every speech a politician delivers in a rally? Because the national anthem is not a flimsy accessory that can be tossed out just about anywhere to exhibit your patriotism. Let’s not make patriotism so shallow and throw it around like a hat that’s to be worn whenever you want to feel self-righteous. Let’s make it a sentiment that reflects in our everyday actions. And let cinema be what it is – a world of fiction that has the liberty to say what it wants.